Marvel Studios found great success with the Guardians of the Galaxy comedic tone, and that will not be lost without James Gunn's direction in Avengers: Infinity War. Almost nobody knew who these characters were before Guardians of the Galaxy hit theaters in 2014, but with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 around the corner, it is one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Much of this excitement can be attributed to the way Gunn built up these characters, and they're poised to do even more in the future.

It was just announced that Gunn will return to write and direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but they will next be appearing in Infinity War. This will mark their first crossover with the Avengers, which is another highly anticipated moment. But with a different set of writers and directors, it was possible their characters could be shown in a slightly different light. If that was a concern, Chris Pratt has made it clear it shouldn't be.

Pratt spoke to /Film as part of the press junket for Vol. 2 and he was asked about Star-Lord and the rest of the Guardians' roles in Infinity War. He assured everyone that they have a key role to play in the story, but also that thanks to Gunn serving as an executive producer and the pre-production process at Marvel, that the team will still feel like the Guardians:

"We have great stuff that we’re doing in it. It’s really fun. It’s very, very Guardians. It’s our tone, it’s our voices. And I felt like on the day, although it was the Russo brothers directing, James is executive producing. He and Kevin [Feige] are having a conversation, and there were zero egos involved, it felt like."

This is a great, albeit not terribly surprising, confirmation that even with a larger production and their biggest threat yet, the Guardians will not lose any of their flavor. In fact, Zoe Saldana previously made similar remarks when asked how the Guardians fit into this large film. While Vol. 2 has yet to hit theaters, the early reactions make it clear that fun-loving tone is once again at the heart of the film and these characters, so it would be rather strange for the Russos to take these characters in a completely opposite direction.

How large this key role is remains to be seen, but the Guardians crew were some of the first actors to report to set. It was recently teased that they'll first encounter the Avengers in space, possibly allowing for Dave Bautista's longtime wish of Drax meeting Iron Man to be a reality. Fans will surely want as much of the Guardians as possible, but this is hardly the last time they'll be around. Plus, with the next two Avengers movies no longer filming simultaneously, they could make a larger return in the Untitled Avengers film.

Source: /Film